Chapter Twelve
It had been two weeks since Buffy went to Hawaii and Angel was
going insane. He had thought that he
could do it, be without her, I mean it was only two weeks for Gods sake! The first week he was out of town and didn’t
have much time to brood about her being gone.
But now here he was pacing in his living room, thinking of nothing
but her.
His front door was thrown open and Spike came barreling in, a case
of Buds under one arm and a bottle of Jacks under the other. “Hey peaches I thought you good use a drink.”
“You have no idea!” Spike
chuckled “Yeah that’s what I thought.”
He looked at Angel “Everything go alright in Vienna.”
“Clockwork.”
Spike happy with answer “Good,”
“So you’re back and brooding, missing Blondie, probably staring at
that damn calendar till your eyes bleed.
Hence the medicine! ” He lifted the bottle of whiskey up.
He sat down on the couch and threw Angel a beer. Then he reached into his duster and pulled
out two shot glasses.”
“Spike you do know I own glasses?”
“Pff I always come prepared mate!
That’s my motto B.Y.O.E.” He
filled their shot glasses.
Angel took the glass Spike handed him “Isn’t that B.Y.O.B. for
bring your own beer?”
“Nope it’s B.Y.O.E., bring your own everything!” They clicked glasses and drank them down.
“Have you talked to her recently?”
“I called her before I left last week.”
“And…” It was no wonder Angel was good at what he did, getting him
to talk was like trying to take the pipe away from a crack addict.
Angel was staring at his drink like it held all the wonders of the
world in the amber liquid “What do you know about The Brotherhood?”
Spike coughed up his whiskey and looked at him “The
Brotherhood? A nasty bunch of bikers
that lot.” Spike wondered why he asked
and if Buffy finally told him. He had
known because he had seen the tattoo on Faith and he knew without even asking
her, what it represented.
“Buffy has a tattoo on her back and she says that it means she
belongs to them.”
Spike looked fluster not knowing how much to tell Angel. But Angel saw his hesitation and knew in
that instant that Buffy hadn’t told him everything. “Spike” he said growling, “You better tell me everything you
know.”
Faith will kill him but better to die in the hands of the woman he
loves then in the hands of the Devil himself. “The Brotherhood is a motorcycle
gang with chapters all over the country.
They run guns, drugs, whores, you name it they got their hands in it.”
Angel pondered this “What about the tattoo?”
Ah the difficult part “When a woman joins the club she’s tattooed
on the lower back. It’s supposed to
mean loyalty and respect towards the club.
It’s also protection; say from an opposing gang member who might try to
get some action off of her. It also
means that once that tattoo is there it never comes off. ”
“What do you mean never comes off?” Angel didn’t like the sound of this.
“It means that once you are in The Brotherhood you don’t
leave. They don’t let you, if you do
your as good as dead!”
“How do you know so much about them?”
“Faith. She’s a member
too.”
Angel stood up so abruptly he almost dropped his drink. “Are you fucking kidding me? You knew this
the whole time and didn’t tell me? And why the fuck did Buffy not tell
me!” Angel started to panic thinking
that there were mad bikers out there hunting his baby down.
Spike knew his line of thinking and went to remedy it quickly
“Hold on mate it’s ok she’s not in any danger.”
Angel spun around “How do you know that? You just said they don’t
let you leave?”
“Look from what Faith says there is a way to leave the club
without gaining a death sentence. See a
man is always attached to the club, no matter what; he’s in it for life. But the ladies don’t join the group the same
way the men do. The women become
members through the man, you know either their husband or boyfriend, whatever.
Basically he is their attachment to the group.
So if he dies or he releases her, then she’s free to go. Don’t get me wrong they technically still
belong to the club but they are free to leave the chapter that they were a
member of.”
Angel paced while he listened to Spike he started to calm down
when he realized that maybe she was safe from harm. “So why not tell me?”
Spike rolled his eyes “Probably because she knew how you would
react and didn’t want to start any trouble.
Look Angel the lass is starting over here she doesn’t want to remember
her past she’s trying to forget it. Why
don’t you just let it rest and help her instead.”
Angel thought on that and he had to agree with Spike. Though he was hurt that she hadn’t told him
the whole story, he understood. He did
freak out because the thought of her belonging to someone else was not
something he wanted to think about, he didn’t like to share.
“Yeah I guess your right.
You don’t think there’s more to it then Faith told you do you?”
Spike snorted, “Well you know my Faith she’s a wonderful woman but
a terrible liar. There’s definitely
more to it than she’s telling me I’m sure of it. And I’m pretty sure there’s more to Buffy’s story too. But hey that’s in their past and I for one
believe everyone deserves a second chance.”
He looked at Angel pointedly “Don’t you?”
Angel couldn’t begrudge her that wasn’t he himself working on that
too? “Your right I just have to suck up
this feeling of…”
“Rage and jealousy, the urge to go out and decapitate everyone of
them?”
Angel just nodded.
“I know the feeling mate.”
He poured them another shot “So beyond that how is she?”
“She’s good. She misses
everyone and can’t wait to come home.”
Spike looked bored “That’s it?
No words of love? No I miss you’s?”
Angel couldn’t help the grin that appeared on his face “There
might have been some of that.”
Spike grinned back.
“How are things with Faith?” Angel asked.
“Faith, she’s perfect.” He
took a drink of his beer then got this disgusted look on his face “Too damn
perfect. You know I never thought I
would ever find someone that made my tummy do flip-flops. You know, someone you would do anything for,
even kill.”
Angel shook his head “I know what you mean. When I saw her with Riley…” He stopped
remembering the rage he had felt “I swear if he had touched her I would’ve
killed him”
Spike knew Angel’s words to be true.
“How the hell did us two
bastards find such incredible women?”
Angel was just as bewildered about that as Spike “I don’t know but
I can tell you one thing, I’ll never let her get away. She’s the one Will whether she wants to
believe it or not, she’s the one.”
Spike looking thoughtful for a moment “How are we going to tell
them?”
Angel who himself had been contemplating the same thing had no
answer.
They sat there throughout the night talking about their women and
getting pretty hammered in the process.
It was late when they finally passed out.
**
Hawaii
Buffy came back from her early morning shoot on the beach and
dropped down on the bed. God she was so
tired. She was up at dawn, dragged onto
a small plane that she thought for sure would crash into the ocean, and flown
to the island of Maui for her shoot. It
was now 8PM and she was tired and hungry.
She had been so busy that she hadn’t had much time to think about
her situation with Angel. But as she lay there now in the quiet of her hotel
room she realized that she didn’t have to think. She did have feelings for him,
strong ones, stronger then she had ever known.
And she was confident in the fact that he felt the same way.
There was no denying the passion that was between them and that
when they made love it was as if the whole world stopped and it was only
them.
She also couldn’t deny that he was generally a good decent man,
who had morals, albeit sometimes he was a little strong handed and
possessive. But she found that in him
she didn’t mind it. In fact she loved
it when he took control. His claiming
of her was nothing short of pure possession and she craved it.
No he was nothing like Parker.
He would always treat her with kindness and thoughtfulness, with
respect. With him she could lose her
self within his passion and warmth, yet still be her own person. She didn’t
have to be afraid to open her heart to him because he would never try to cage
it.
She was still a little nervous about how fast things had
progressed but hey love makes you do the whacky!
Love… Oh my God I Love Him!
She sat up abruptly. Where the
hell did that come from?
Oh well, she guessed it was unavoidable really, when you looked at
it, because what girl in her right mind good resist him? With those dark chocolate eyes that just
seem to look right into your soul, telling you all the sensuous pleasures to be
found in his arms. Yes trying to deny it had been a lost cause from the
beginning. She was just too stupid to
see it.
Her eyes grew heavy and she started to drift oft to sleep with
wicked thoughts of chaining Angel up and having her way with him, when the
phone started to ring.
She reached over to grab it, knocking the clock off the table in
the process “Hello”
“B how’s it hanging babe?”
“Faith? What’s going on?”
“Ah same old shit you know how it is. I just wanted to check up on you and see how you were.”
Buffy had her suspicions that Angel probably put her up to the
call. She had only spoken to him twice
since she’d gotten here. She knew that
he probably would have called more but he didn’t want her to think that he was
suffocating her.
“Oh yeah I’m sure. Is
Angel with you?”
Faith looked over at an anxious Angel “No why would Angel be with
me?”
“Oh I don’t know I hadn’t talked to him in a while and I thought
maybe he had you calling to check up on me.”
“Gee B could you be anymore paranoid? Actually I’m at the Whiskey getting ready for the mad rush; I had
a free minute and wanted to talk to you.”
Buffy was a little disappointed “Oh ok is everything alright? Doyle, Cordelia, Spike?”
“Everyone’s great B, but we all miss you. When are you coming
home?”
Buffy looked at her calendar “I think in another week we should
have everything wrapped up.”
“Great! I can’t wait to
see you.” Faith turned away from Angel
and Spike who were listening to every word she said, and walked down the other
end of the bar so they couldn’t hear her.
“B you sure everything’s cool?
I mean you know with Angel and all?”
Buffy smiled “Everything is very cool Faith. I didn’t think being away from him would be
this hard but God I really miss him.”
“Well he misses you too. Because you know he’s brooding in here
ever damn night and it’s driving me fucking crazy.” She swatted Spike away who had inched closer to try and hear.
Buffy laughed “Well if it’s any consolation I’m brooding too. I never realized how deep my feelings were
for him until I was away. Now I cant’
think of anything but him, all the time…actually, its pretty god damn
annoying. But don’t tell him that his
head is already swollen”
Faith laughed and looked at Spike she knew how Buffy felt it was
the same way she felt for Spike.
“Alright call me before you leave I’ve spotted the perfect place
for the bar and I can’t wait to show you.”
“Great I can’t wait to see
it. Alright I’ll talk to you soon ok?”
“Oh B?”
“Yeah?”
“Get some sleep girl you sound like shit!”
“I love you too Faith, bye”
Faith hung up the phone and was immediately bombarded with questions from both
idiots at the other end of the bar.
“What did she say?”
“Is she going to bring me back pictures?” Angel just looked at Spike like ‘are you
kidding me’ “What? Have you seen the
swimsuit edition?”
“Guys, guys, hold up. She
sounds good, tired but good.”
Angel scowled “She’s not sleeping enough which probably means
she’s not eating enough either.”
Looking all concerned.
Spike looked like he was going to puke “Aren’t you cute worried
about the little woman.” Then he turned to Faith, “What about those pictures?”
Faith slapped him upside the head “You’re not getting any pictures
you rutting fool.” Then she leaned in
to kiss him.
Looking back at Angel “Don’t worry; she can take care of
herself. And she did say that she
missed you.”
His face lit up “really?”
Faith nodded her head “She also knew that you had me call her.”
“Damn.”
“Blonde yes, stupid she’s not.” Faith answered.
Just then Doyle walked in “Hey was that the lass you were talking
too?”
“The one and only!”
“When she coming home? Because you know business has gone down the
tubes since she left.” Doyle said.
Faith looking affronted said “Hey what am I Chopped Liver?”
Spike pulled her into a hug “If you are you’re my chopped liver.”
“Ew gross Spike.”
“Now Faithy you know that’s not it, it’s just that Buffy draws
them in like cattle to a watering hole.”
Angel sat there listening to their banter his mind on Buffy and
how much he missed her.